San Francisco or Bust: What I did on my Summer Vacation Part 5

We didn't want to leave the beautiful redwood forests, but it was time to move on and see the rest of the western coast. Our next stop was San Francisco, the city by the bay. As we were approaching the Golden Gate bridge I noticed signs informing us of tolls on the bridge. Oops, I declined the toll option on our rental car and had no idea the Golden Gate was a toll. Blame my small town thinking for that. So we had to pull over and pull out the cell phone to go online to pay for it in advance because there were no toll booths on the bridge. I don't know how that's supposed to make it easier for everyone, but the sign told us it was. Anyway, we were really tired so we were thrilled to find that the hotel we booked was right in the heart of the city near the museums, China Town, and the piers.



Our first adventure was to spend some time in China Town. We found that it was a lot like the little villages in Mexico we have frequented in that it was stocked full of cheap touristy crap mostly made in China, however, in this case that was totally appropriate -- being that it was China Town. But there was a lot of flair and color and character to the place and we enjoyed ourselves.



The next day we headed out to Alcatraz. This was one of the most interesting parts of our vacation. I didn't expect it to be so beautiful on the island. I'm a fan of abandoned buildings as well so I had a field day with the camera.



After Alcatraz we did some driving around the city. We drove on the crookedest street in the world, rode a trolley car and people watched. We had a really great conversation with a guy on the trolley car who appeared to be a genius. SF is among the places we'd like to return some day to spend more time. The next day we hit the long road down to L.A. along Highway 1. I'll share photos of that trek next.

Lisa On Location Photography